§ 130. These constructions are called ‘absolute’ because they are not dependent on any other part of the including sentence, though they cannot be used without it, as they lack a finite verb form and thus have no predicate.

From the point of view of their transformational possibility, absolute constructions fall into two types, verbal and non-verbal ones.

I. Constructions with verbals as their second part. When transformed into clauses they retain their predicate part, which takes a proper tense-aspect form.

She sat on the porch,Mary playing with her doll ————> She sat on the porch, and (while) Mary was

playing with her doll.

The clauses resulting from such transformations usually have a simple verbal predicate. If the second part includes a form of the verb to be, the predicate of the clause is, of course, a compound nominal one:

It being late, he went home ——> As it was late, he went home.

II. Constructions with non-verbals with an adjective, a stative, an adverb or a noun (with a preposition) as their second part. When transformed into clauses, a proper form of the link verb to be must be introduced, as these constructions lack a verbal component of their own.

He marched out of the room, his head high up ——> He marched out of the room, and his head was high

up.

Thus clauses resulting from the transformation of constructions of this type always have a compound nominal predicate.

§ 131. Absolute constructions may have two forms: non-prepositional and prepositional. The latter is introduced by the preposition with (in the case of the infinitive construction it may be without).